Fair Exchange
by ariom
Summary: Just how did Orac track down Blake?


FAIR EXCHANGE

2 164 words

"I've been waiting for you, Avon." I smile at him as he materialises, gun in hand, but there is no answering softness in his expression. No matter. I can make him smile if I wish. I can make Kerr Avon do anything. I know him so well, far better than anyone else alive. I sometimes think I know him better than I know my own self.

"You were very sure I would come." He is suspicious of course. That is by now second nature to the man. Or maybe he was born that way, with that sense of caution, of total self preservation and self interest. This time at least, there is no need for his suspicions. Not that I really expect him to believe that. He'd be a fool to trust me, and if there is one thing he's not, it's a fool.

"Of course. You can't resist me, Avon. Like a fly to a honey pot - "

"To a Venus fly trap, more likely." He looks around. "You are alone?" It's a question and I wonder if he'll believe me when I tell him the truth. I must admit, I do tell him the truth so seldom that he may consider doubting me now is a sensible move.

"This time, yes." I take a couple of paces forward and put my hand up against his chest. "Except, of course, for you."

He brings the hand holding the clipgun up between us. The other hand he puts around me. I have been ignoring the gun, considering that to be my wisest and most characteristic response to its threat. He grins unpleasantly at me. I don't think I like that grin. Avon has changed, and not for the better, I think.

"And this." His voice is hard. He is so suspicious. Under other circumstances I think I would giggle at him.

"Avon, you don't trust me." I raise my eyebrows in a manner I know is becoming but I don't even bother attempting to put hurt into my tone. After all, Avon does not even trust his friends (few though they may be!) and I am his enemy. His dearest enemy, naturally, but nonetheless his enemy. He has not even the slightest reason to trust me. I go on. "We are alone. My crew are mutoids. They have taken my ship some ten kilometres off and will not return until they are called. And you - "

He laughs and pushes me away slightly to reholster the gun. I am pleased that he does not entirely release me.

"Vila is on Scorpio. With Orac. The ship is in stationary orbit." He cocks an eyebrow at me. "On full alert, of course."

I am glad he has brought Vila and not Tarrant or Dayna. I am, unaccountably, sorry for what happened to Zeeona. I did not wish for her to die. For Hal Mellanby's death I have no regrets, only that I did not kill his daughter also. I look at Avon.

"Of course," I agree smoothly. "Vila is - more useful that the others, isn't he? More amenable." Now I cannot prevent the malice from stealing into my tone. "I am, quite frankly, amazed that he will go anywhere with you. Since Malodaar."

Avon's eyes go icy.

"You didn't invite me here, Servalan, to discuss Vila. What do you want?"

I laugh up at him.

"Oh, Avon, that is a leading question!" But then I shake my head and become brisk. Time for that later, maybe... "I have found Blake."

"What?" He grips my arms and I am astounded at his sudden intensity. "Where?"

I shake my head again.

"It's not that easy."

"With you, it never is." He releases me abruptly. "You told me once that you had seen his body cremated."

I shrug.

"I was lying. But this time I am telling you the truth. I do know where he is, Avon. I know where to find him. Any time I wish." He sits and looks at me intently.

"So why is he still alive?"

I blink.

"What?"

"Why haven't you killed him then? You've found Roj Blake, so you say, so why haven't you had him killed?"

I frown. Could it be that he wants to see Blake dead? Impossible.

"It doesn't suit my present purposes, Avon, to have Blake killed." I look into his eyes, aware that innocence and lack of guile are written all over my face - for someone who knows me less well than he does. I realise that he knows me every bit as well as I know him. I must be very careful. "It has occurred to me that we can help each other, you and I."

"Go on."

I point to the lounge.

"Let's sit down and be comfortable. And there is wine, too."

"You have a plan of some kind."

"Naturally I have a plan. That is why I called you here, to discuss it. For our mutual benefit." I regard him thoughtfully over the rim of my glass. It's a pity. But then, you never know...

It is really a very simple plan. The best ones always are. I know where they can find Blake, as I explain to Avon. I will tell them where to find him, and they will go looking for him. Avon may have to convince the others, but I doubt that he'll find that difficult. And then, while they are harassing the Federation - or what is nowadays called the Federation (a motley collection of self seeking scum and imbeciles) I, and those officers and personnel who have remained loyal to me, we shall retake the centre of power on Earth.

The Presidency will be mine again. I shall rule as I once did before. I go on to explain to him what else they will get out of this bargain. After all, I would hardly expect Kerr Avon to help me do anything unless he were going to benefit greatly by it. So I tell him; if they remain away from Earth's solar system for six Terran months, at the end of that period of time I shall declare them all freely and unconditionally pardoned. They will all be free and I, I will be the President.

Avon's laugh is harsh.

"I have the feeling, Servalan, that what you are going to get out of this is considerably more than I shall get out of it. Blake..." He sits and scowls at his boots. "Blake is a real problem. He always was. He risked not only his own neck but ours too, time and time again - "

"And you need him," I finish. He gives me a look fit to kill.

"Damn you, Servalan - "

"If you do not agree to our bargain, Avon, I shall have Blake - eliminated." I laugh but it is not a pleasant sound, not even to my own ears. "I could have him taken back to Earth and chopped into mincemeat on prime time viscast."

Avon stares at me coldly.

"Eliminating Blake would probably be the very best thing for all of us," he says sourly and I look at him sharply.

"You don't mean that."

"Don't I?" He stands and stretches and shakes his head. "No, I don't suppose I do. Not really." He gives a quick grin, far nicer than his earlier expression. "Blake always was a thorn in the side of the Federation."

"Ah, but he won't be as much trouble as he was before." I shake my head gently. "He's changed, Avon. As you will find out. A small annoyance is now all he is capable of being - even with you and all the others. And in six months' time you will all be pardoned, I promise it." And I really do mean it. If they are still alive after I have held power for those six months, I shall probably have no qualms about giving them their freedom. They will be useful acquisitions to the Federation by then. And also by then, under my guidance, the Federation will again be all it should be. I cannot lose.  
Avon puts his head on one side, sitting down again, and this time beside me.

"You are giving me Blake - and through my actions I shall be giving you the Presidency. Some exchange. You really care about being the Terran President again."

For once in my life I am truly candid. Strange, is it not, that I can be most honest with my best enemy?

"I care more about it than anything else, Avon. It is more important to me than any number of rebels." I find it strange, always have, that anyone can believe so few could ever make any difference against something so huge as the Federation. The power of the people is, and always has been, a myth. "I want to rule again. I shall rule again. And I promise to you that your help will be rewarded." My smile is very crooked. "And even if I were not to keep my word, surely it is wiser and safer - from your point of view - to have me as President than to have someone who may be even worse?"

He grunts sourly.

"Better the devil you know than the one you don't?"

I smile in agreement and our eyes meet again.

"Exactly. But I intend to keep my word. I swear it. You will all receive free and totally unconditional pardons six months after the day that I regain power." (And I hope to myself that they will be posthumous pardons, especially that of Dayna Mellanby.) He is still very thoughtful. I wonder if he does truly believe me. I smile at him again. "I am sure, Avon, that you will find our bargain worth while ... in the end."

"Orac can find out Blake's whereabouts. If you know, then it can find out, from the Federation's computers."

"I don't think so." This time I hide my smile and he goes on, his voice flat and hard.  
"Orac reads computers."

"Ah yes. But it doesn't read minds. And so far the information about Blake is in my mind alone. I have not recorded it anywhere. And there is no one else alive who knows what I do." (Oh, I have made very sure of that.) "If you agree to do as I have asked, to keep well away from Earth for six months after you find Blake, then I shall make his whereabouts available to Orac. But not until you give me your word. And I shall give you mine." It will be an unwritten bargain, I suspect, that the rest of the Scorpio crew will never hear about. They could be rather upset and disturbed by it. I like that.

He gives me a piercing look.

"You trust me, Servalan, to keep my side of any bargain we make?"

I nod.

"Oh yes. I trust you, Avon. Implicitly." I lean forwards, not so far as to frighten him off, but far enough for him to think that he is taking the initiative. But he does not move. I crush my incipient anger. He'd be more trouble than he's worth, anyway.  
Avon has been considering and now he nods.

"All right, Servalan. It's a deal." He stands up and his expression is stony. "But if you cheat or betray me, then I shall kill you. I swear it."

I hold my hand out and he pulls me to my feet.

"You have my word on it. You shan't regret this," I say smoothly and he nods agreement.

"And you also have my word." He smiles and brings his face very close to mine. "And my assurance that you will regret nothing."

This time it's a long, slow kiss, not like the one he gave me at the Teal Vandor convention. And afterwards I watch with real regret as he disappears in the teleport. I have the quite distinct feeling that none of them will live long enough for me to pardon them. (Assuming, of course, that I do not change my mind between times.) I'm not quite sure, for once in my life, just exactly how I feel about that.

Back on my ship I feed the information on Roj Blake's whereabouts into the computer system, knowing that somewhere very soon that little box of tricks will be able to pick up on it. Orac's ego being somewhat on a par with Avon's, it will very likely try to pass the information off as the results of its own research.

Blake is on Gauda Prime. Good luck to them.

They'll need it.

_Okay, so it probably didn't happen like this. It almost certainly didn't.  
But like so many other people I have often wondered just exactly why Sleer/Servalan wasn't present at the shoot out on GP. This is, I feel, as reasonable an explanation as any._


End file.
